True education prepares us for life. It helps us not just to earn a living but also to live our lives properly for the greater benefit of society. If education fails to deliver this result, then that is not an education in the first place. But who will give proper “education”? Is this only the responsibility of schools, colleges and universities? Is this the responsibility of the parents? Is the government responsible for educating its citizens? Are the organizations that employ the individuals also responsible for educating the employees? Since education is a lifelong journey to becoming a better individual, all the institutions, namely family, government, educational institutions, and organizations that recruit people for carrying out business transactions are responsible for preparing the individuals to be of use to the nation. That is education. It need not happen just in educational institutions. But schools can be the best starting point to provide education. Education should make an individual wise enough to do things that can bring peace, happiness, and progress in that order.

Current State of Education

In our country, or perhaps anywhere in the world, education boils down to putting the people (almost compulsorily) to a structured framework that makes students acquire some knowledge, skills, and character traits. This is structured learning. But, most of the learnings of life take place in an unstructured way, through life experiences. Sometimes, what a school fails to teach is learned in succeeding stages of life. Even structured education has varying standards. The standards vary so widely that outcomes are also widely different. In our country, structured education is not uniform. Even if we introduce a similar pattern of education for all students, say 5+3+3+4 or whatever, that can not guarantee predictably satisfactory outcomes. It’s not a football match in which you can try either 4-2-4 formation or 4-3-3 formation and can get different results. While some developed countries are said to have established a system in which all educational institutions are committed to impart similar kinds of education, India lacks such a system and as a result, we fail to get desirable results from the educational system. In India, schools have their styles of functioning and many of these styles do not conform to Indian values and culture. Although ours is a pluralistic society, something must bind all of us. Otherwise, we shall be a confused race, looking helplessly for the right direction.

In India, a “highly educated” person has acquired select professional qualifications from certain select institutions of eminence. Even if I assume that a professionally qualified person (e.g. doctor/engineer/lawyer/MBA) passing from an institution of eminence is most suitable to serve the nation (a highly unrealistic assumption, though), how many students will be able to land in such institutions of eminence? Maybe, one percent of the students aspire to get into these institutions. That means, the system has failed to produce a good number of “highly educated” citizens. This problem persists, regardless of the pattern of education launched by successive governments from time to time since independence. And are we sure that the students passing out from the institutes of eminence will serve the nation? According to reliable research, 36% of IITians leave the country immediately after completing their education. 65% of the top 1000 pass-outs leave the country over time. 90% of the top 10 students of the IITs leave the country for good. So, even if we assume that the institutes of eminence impart high-quality education (not always the right assumption), the creation of institutes of eminence has defeated the very purpose of creating them. Many of the private institutions offering professional courses have remained mediocre for years although students are spending the guardians’ lifetime of savings as tuition fees. Meanwhile, the students passing mediocre institutions land various kinds of jobs, mostly in areas not related to their subjects of specialization. So, even if we define “education” as a process of acquiring some coveted degrees, we fail to get the desired results from the present system. Of course, most of the students passing out from the institutions of eminence are doing jobs in fields that had never been their domains. Many IAS and IPS officers are the products of IITs. Some of them are nowhere in the area of technology and have made their names as novelists! Some doctors have lost interest in healing people and are known as singers and musicians.

Now, let us see whether the professionals who prefer to serve the country in their areas of specialization do that in a better way than others. Our problem is that we consider certain professions as more useful than others. The fact is, all professions can take the nation to the path of peace and prosperity. A cab driver, a hospital nurse, a sportsperson (not just a cricketer), a singer, a school teacher, and a bank employee can bring happiness and prosperity to the nation. When the nation agrees to take all professions as equally respectable and also equally useful for the nation, the necessary first step is taken towards the promotion of peace and harmony in the society, so important condition to make India a rich nation by 2047.

What is the Right Education?

What we need at this hour is to define education properly. We have forgotten that we once had the best schooling system called “Gurukul” in our country. Lord Macaulay understood that it would be difficult to rule India if the Gurukul System of education could not be replaced with European-style education. He had found the Indian system of education perfect for the holistic development of children. However, he had the agenda of introducing an education policy that could destroy the Gurukul system and create divisions in Indian society. As a result, he introduced a new education policy and we are still following that policy.     Although it is not possible to replicate the Gurukul system fully at this point in history, we can redesign the education system by adopting the principles of that ancient education system of India. This system had the objective of developing the all-round personality of the students. The objective was not just to help students get good grades but actually to develop values like respect for others, compassion for the underprivileged, and discipline in accomplishing the job well and on time. This system brought better moral values and there was less greed, corruption, and inequality in the community. India had developed in the fields of art, literature, mathematics, and science.

Is the system that focuses on developing better human values no longer relevant in our country? Should we focus on creating only a skill-based society that improves the citizen’s employability? While it is a fact that skills that improve employability and productivity can raise the living standards at individual and collective levels, skills without basic human values and Indian ethos can ultimately be counterproductive. Creating a skill-based society is a necessary condition for economic progress. But that is not a sufficient condition. A person may be highly skillful in his area of expertise. But that does not mean he will use his skill for the benefit of his society. An engineer may have acquired a high level of skills in his profession. But he may sometimes be so greedy to earn more profits that he may use sub-standard building materials to build bridges, roads, and houses. A doctor may have skills and many professional degrees to do his assigned jobs but may be negligent in discharging his duties in his hospital. He may be found minting money at his private dispensary by charging exorbitant fees even to those who can pay his fees with great difficulty. This doctor may even suggest pathological tests and expensive medicines that are not needed. No regulator can stop such practices if a person decides to be dishonest and corrupt. Even the Principal of a government medical college can run a racket of carrying out unlawful activities for years. A skillful lawyer can use his skill to support the causes of hardcore criminals including terrorists and other anti-national elements, just to earn a lot of money. There can be countless examples of skillful people in the domains of teaching, sports, music, academics, and business doing a disservice to the nation by using their skills for the wrong purposes. Such acts of disservice hinder the progress of our country. The reason for all such corrupt practices is the absence of an education system that could make us value-based individuals.

Creating a value-based education system is not easy. Since independence, nobody has attempted to set up a different kind of education system although as an independent nation, we had the right to alter the system to suit our needs and aspirations. We have set up schools aplenty. But hardly any school is interested in inculcating the basic human values in the children. The schools that are considered better than others are nothing but the ones that produce better academic results. Now we all know that better all-India ranks are not the results of the right teaching inputs at the schools. Students can do well only if they are sent to the right tuition classes. Even the students who get top positions in examinations like JEE and NEET hardly attend schools and instead, keep on following the specialised classes of coaching centres. This system keeps all parties happy. The schools are happy because they can earn high tuition fees if the students are national rank holders. Coaching centers are happy because they can earn good money from the students aspiring to join the institutes of eminence. The guardians are happy because they hope to get something very valuable from the coaching centers. Ultimately it elevates their status if their children succeed in cracking the tough entrance tests. Nobody joins the premier educational institutions just to acquire knowledge and skills. It’s all about “tag” and the expected “package” that attracts people to institutes of eminence.

How Can a New System Look Like?

If children do not grow up with the right values and attitudes, they can not be expected to pick up better human values later in life. So, the schools have to be equipped with the necessary teachers and infrastructures to give value-based education. What are the values that children should learn at school? In all government-aided and private schools, the children should learn to do some basic jobs themselves. Like the old “Gurukul” system, they should learn to clean the floors of their respective classrooms, keep it looking beautiful, make their breakfast, and take the breakfast together in a disciplined way, followed by cleaning utensils. Initially, they should be shown how to do such work properly. But, after a few months, they can do that better than any others. They should be made to learn their lessons well in a collaborative environment. There should be less competition as excessive competition kills the joy of learning and creates rivalry among friends. Then, the students should be made to play some team games compulsorily but joyfully. Team games promote the value of helping each other and accomplishing a goal together. The students should also spend one day of the week helping people living in difficulties. They can be taken to slums and made to understand the real problems facing the country. Students of senior classes can be made to interact with the poorer people to understand what they look for from society. They can be taken to old age homes and made to spend some time with the lonely senior citizens, spending the last few years of life journey with emotional difficulties. In other words, children should be made to see the real world as it is so that they do not live in ivory towers while pursuing their studies. The students should know the plights of Indian society. They should also know more about the glorious past of Indian civilizations. If they are not proud of their rich cultural heritage, they can not learn to live with honor.

In academic sessions, the job of the teacher should be to encourage students to learn from one another. Of course, the teacher should be a subject matter expert and should devote all her energy towards building the future of the nation. Needless to say, no private tuition should be allowed. Private tuition is destroying the natural process of learning. Students should learn everything at the school. To help the students learn the difficult concepts of the higher classes, the teachers have to work harder and should keep on updating their knowledge. The job of the teacher should also be to identify the special talents of each student. All students need not become doctors or Gen AI experts. We also need good historians, political scientists, writers, journalists, singers, and football players. The students should be encouraged to live their own lives. That will motivate them to specialize in the areas of their choice when they leave the school.

Here, some may ask whether the private schools run by big corporate houses can be made to follow the same guidelines. The simple answer is that if they do not want to follow the education system that can be of greater benefit to the nation, they should better leave the business of running educational institutions. Certain They can be allowed to do certain things not related to the educational programs. They may serve better breakfast to the students and provide AC classrooms and other elegant infrastructures to attract “elite” guardians. However, the ultimate objective should be to help students learn more life skills, acquire knowledge in a stress-free environment, and become ready to serve the nation.

An education system along the lines mentioned above is the need of the hour. If the students have better values than what they have now, they will acquire the necessary skills according to their interests and inclinations. The nation needs people skilled in all fields of work. When people use their skills for nobler purposes, that can make the country progress and that progress becomes sustainable. 

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